Friday, February 29, 2008

Come see New York Times bestselling author and former Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell sign and discuss his nonfiction work, "Lone Survivor", along with Staff Sergeant David Bellavia and Lt. Col. Steve Russell

Petty Officer Marcus Luttrell was a Navy SEAL fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. He was awarded the Navy Cross and Purple Heart for combat heroism in 2006. He is from Texas and has a twin brother who is also a Navy SEAL. He has written Lone Survivor, an eyewitness account of Operation Redwing , a reconnaissance mission trying to locate a guerrilla commander who was aligned with the Taliban. He discusses the training to be a SEAL, the mindset of the SEALS, and how he and his teammates fought heroically in an ambush where he became the sole survivor of SEAL Team 10. This is a book about modern warfare, the mindset of the terrorists as well as a tribute to his fallen teammates who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country. This book has been on the New York Times Bestseller list for the past 31 weeks.

On the night of November 10, 2004, a U.S. Army infantry squad under Staff SergeantDavid Bellavia entered the heart of the city of Fallujah and plunged into one of the most sustained and savage urban battles in the history of American men at arms.With Third Platoon, Alpha Company, part of the Army's Task Force 2/2, Bellavia and his men confronted an enemy who had had weeks to prepare, booby-trapping houses, arranging ambushes, rigging entire city blocks as explosives-laden kill zones, and even stocking up on atropine, a steroid that pumps up fighters in the equivalent of a long-lasting crack high. Entering one house, alone, Bellavia faced the fight of his life against six insurgents, using every weapon at his disposal, including a knife. It is the stuff of legend and the chief reason he is one of the great heroes of the Iraq War. Bringing to searing life the terrifying intimacy of hand-to-hand infantry combat, House to House is far more than just another war story. A timeless portrait of the U.S. infantryman's courage, House to House is a soldier's memoir that is destined to rank with the finest personal accounts of men at war.

Lt. Col. Steve Russell commanded the 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry and was a central player in the hunt and capture of Saddam Hussein. He served more than 7 years overseas and has deployed operationally to Kosovo , Kuwait, Afghanistan and Iraq . To combat encourage Americans to support victory, he founded "Vets For Victory."